Cuba and Canada have created an economic association for the export of health services specializing in the treatment of orthopedic conditions to people in the North American country.
The Cuban Medical Services Commercial Society (CMHC) and the Canadian Commercial Society Cubaheal Medical Tourism Inc. have signed an agreement that will jointly manage the Aparthotel Ortop, belonging to the Frank País International Orthopedic Scientific Complex, dedicated to surgery, reconstruction and rehabilitation of bones and muscles.
As revealed by the Cuban Ministry of Public Health in its Web pageThis is the first international economic association contract that the organization signs in the service delivery modality.
With the new agreement, the government will be able to link the healthcare business sector to a foreign funding source.
Concretely, the services of the Aparthotel Ortop will be used as a student residence, or as academic or assistance accommodation.
The Canadian firm Cubaheal has expressed its interest in expanding the capacities of the student residence in the center or outside it. The commercialization of wellness and quality of life programs for the elderly and for patients who wish to receive medical care in Cuba is also planned.
The agreement was signed by the president of CSMC, Yamila de Armas Águila, on the Cuban side, and by Canada, the president of the Cubaheal company, Wael Saad Eddin Gharbiyeh.
The Cuban government is making every effort to attract tourists from Canada, one of the main countries that emit visitors to the island, and the provision of health services may be one of the means.
Some of them didn’t have the best of experiences while vacationing in the Caribbean country.
Last August, a few Canadian tourists who visited Cuba said their trip turned into a nightmare when one of them tested positive for coronavirus upon arrival on the island.
Claudia Gagné and her husband, residents of Quebec, were vaccinated against the coronavirus and also presented their negative test for COVID-19 at the airport.
At midnight, three men called the hotel room where they were staying to tell them it was infected. After another test which came back positive, they forced her to go to the hospital, where they subjected her to various tests that she had to pay for, without anyone giving her the results afterwards. .
Speaking to other Canadian tourists who have undergone similar treatment, Gagné became convinced that she had been scammed and began to advise against traveling to Cuba.
“I have never had COVID! I took my test. It was negative,” the tourist told the local press in her town.
In 2018, the CMHC and the Canadian tour operator COGIR launched a program to promote medical care in Cuba for senior tourists from Canada.
The program, titled “For a Happy Age”, was designed for groups of people aged 75 to 85, in good physical and mental condition, who visit Cuba for two or three months during the winter season.
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